This section provides information to help troubleshoot general operating system deployment issues in Configuration Manager 2007. This content might have been updated since the publishing of this version. For the most recent version, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=93781.

You use Windows Vista or the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 2.0 to create partitions on a hard disk. After you do this, when you try to install Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP, it fails.

Solution

This issue occurs because Windows Vista and Windows PE 2.0 create disk partitions differently than Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. This occurs only on computers that use certain BIOS firmware. For more information about the required workaround, see the following:

Software distribution advertisements are failing on Configuration Manager 2007 clients running all versions of the following operating systems:

Windows 2000

Windows XP

Windows 2000 Server

Windows 2003 Server

When you deploy an image from one of these operating systems, Configuration Manager 2007 software distribution advertisements might be one hour behind due to revised Daylight Savings Time laws in many countries.

Solution

You can install an update to your computer that will automatically adjust the computer clock to the correct date in 2007 due to revised Daylight Savings Time laws. For more information about how to install the required update, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=94809.

When you deploy an operating system image with no NTFS boot partition, the operating system deployment fails and returns an error.

Solution

You must convert the hard disk to NTFS format before staging a boot image. You can use the Run Command Line task sequence step to perform the hard disk conversion. Enter the following command for the Command Line of the Run Command Line task sequence step:

%windir%\system32\convert.exe c: /fs:ntfs /x

This command assumes that the boot partition is on hard drive "C".

The following potential results are returned from this action:

0: Indicates the hard disk was successfully converted to NTFS.

4: Indicates that the hard disk was already formatted as NTFS and no action was taken.

Configuration Manager 2007 ensures that each Configuration Manager 2007 client is uniquely identified. If a duplicate hardware ID is identified, by default Configuration Manager 2007 automatically creates a new client record for the duplicate record. This setting lets you easily upgrade or deploy clients that might have duplicate hardware IDs, without requiring manual intervention. However, with this setting, a computer that has been re-imaged or restored from backup will have a new record created, which results in all previous information about that client being no longer available for reporting purposes.

An alternative configuration is to require the administrator to manually reconcile all conflicting records when they are detected. This setting results in affected clients being unmanaged and no longer displaying in collections but displaying in the Conflicting Records node. These clients will remain unmanaged until the administrator resolves the conflict.

Solution

When a new record is created, you cannot get back previous data for the client, but you can reconfigure Configuration Manager so that it does not automatically create new records in the future.

If clients are unmanaged and missing from collections, check the Conflicting Records node so that you can manually reconcile the records by merging them, by creating a new record, or by blocking the new record.

When you perform a scripted operating system installation of Windows Vista, you receive a generic error message.

Solution

This issue might be caused if you specify a nonvalid PID with the operating system deployment. All setup logs are also copied into the task sequence logs directory where you can locate additional information.

You manually import one or more non-exportable certificates to the Configuration Manager 2007 certificate store, and the task sequence fails to run, because it could not export certificates from the Configuration Manager 2007 certificate store.

Solution

Do not manually import certificates into the Configuration Manager 2007 store.

Beginning in 2007, daylight saving time (DST) has been extended in the United States. DST started on March 11, 2007, which is three weeks earlier than usual, and it ended on November 4, 2007, which is one week later than usual. This resulted in a new DST period that is four weeks longer than in previous years. Operating system images captured before the daylight savings time update was applied might fail when performing the install software action step after the new operating system is installed.

Solution

In order to ensure that the task sequence does not fail, the operating system to be installed should have the DST update installed or the activation and expiration time of the task sequence should be outside the revised DST dates. For more information about the daylight savings time (DST) update, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108434.

In Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 and R2, using the Create New Computer Association Wizard to add new users to the computer fails to add the new users. The wizard states that the tasks have been successfully completed, but the new users are not added.

Solution

To add users to a new computer association, complete the New Computer Association Wizard without adding users. Right-click the new association, select Specify User Accounts, and then add the new user accounts. The users will be added.

Editing Configuration Manager 2007 task sequences with a Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 or Configuration Manager 2007 R2 console is not supported. An error appears when you are attempting to edit task sequences that were created on earlier versions of Configuration Manager 2007.

Solution

Do not use Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 or later versions to edit task sequences that were created on earlier versions of Configuration Manager 2007.

Registry information for native mode clients is captured during an operating system deployment image capture. This includes the information about the root certification authority (CA) that was used to issue the site server signing certificate and other native mode settings. When the captured image is used with a different root CA, clients reject policy from the site server. For more information about this scenario, see Renewing or Changing the Site Server Signing Certificate. Other native mode settings can be updated from Active Directory Domain Services after the client is successfully installed and assigned to the site.

Solution

If an operating system deployment image will be captured from a native mode client, remove the Security registry key before you capture the image.

To remove the Security registry key for images in native mode

Create a package with two registry files: One to delete the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\CCM\Security for 32-bit computers, and one to delete the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\CCM\Security for 64-bit computers. For example, these might be called del_security_key_x86.reg and del_security_key_x64.reg.

Add two Run Command Line actions after the Prepare ConfigMgr Client for Capture step in the capture task sequence. Each Run Command Line action invokes Regedit.exe to merge one of the two registry files that deletes the Security registry key. Add a condition option to each action so that it runs only when the corresponding Security registry key exists. The following examples show the command line for x86 and x64 environments:

When upgrading or reinstalling Windows XP to Windows 7 by using Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0 to migrate system and user state, settings like wallpaper and network printer mappings are not migrated. Running Scanstate.exe from a folder other than the USMT - x86 - folder (the default for the task sequence) prevents Scanstate.exe from finding the DLManifests folder to include system elements like wallpaper and folder settings. These settings will not be migrated. USMT 4.0 must be run from a local folder that contains the DLManifests folder.

The User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0 released with the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) 2.0 and is a prerequisite for Configuration Manager 2007 operating system deployment.

Symptoms of this issue include:

After migrating user state, the wall paper or folder settings have not been migrated.

If verbose logging is enabled, the following line might appear in ScanState.log:

[date time], Info [0x000000] Downlevel Manifests folder is not present. System component settings will not be gathered.

Solution

Copy the DlManifests folder to the working directory (in this case %Windir%\System32) by using a Run Command Line task in the Task Sequence.

To migrate additional user settings including wallpaper and network settings by using USMT 4.0

Click the Data Source tab and ensure that the Source directory box specifies the root level of the USMT folder. It should not specify either the x86 or AMD64 folders. Only one package should be necessary for both x86 or AMD64 deployments. If the Source directory box specifies either the x86 or AMD64 folders, correct this by specifying the source directory one level above in the root of the USMT folder. If you have made changes to the package, you must update (not refresh) the Distribution Points that are sharing the USMT 4 package.